Vol. 11 The University of Florida College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

No. 11

Tenure and Promotion

The past month or so has been quite
unsettling for UF faculty as one of the
most important and cherished tenets
of the academy has been challenged,
namely the process by which tenure
and promotion procedures are carried
out. Academic tenure has been
questioned before and will likely
see more such attacks, but this one
differed in that it appeared to come
from within the university, not from
without. And therefore all the more
disturbing.
As most everyone now knows, a
faculty member in another college
challenged the traditional closed
meetings at which faculty discuss
specific cases and then come to
judgment about tenure and promotion
decisions. It is a good process, tested
over many years in the crucible of
candid and frank discussions by
which faculty arrive at consensus
positions on who will remain or
advance in the academy. These are
arguably among the most important
decisions made within departments.
But the legal opinion in response to
the faculty member's challenge held
that current T&P procedures were out
of line. The president felt he had no
choice but to make immediate changes
to comply with the law, since we were
already well into the T&P process for
this year. Sudden changes in such
a sensitive area, and made without
faculty consultation, do not sit well,
to understate the response.
So for this year, while procedural
revisions are being planned for the
future, the university has lost the
important right to discuss T&P cases
within a departmental setting in order
to reach a collective recommendation
on a colleague's professional future.
The critical secret ballot has been
retained to permit individual faculty
expression for each case, but there
should be no misunderstanding that
our process has been diminished this
-See Musings, page 12

Five weeks after the catastrophic
earthquake that devastated Mexico
City in 1985, anthropology professor
Russell Bernard was walking around in
the rubble. "There were still aftershocks,"
he says. "Thousands had died, but no one
knew how many. The government was
saying 6,000 people had been killed, but
opposition newspapers were claiming the
casualties were more like 20,000."
People he talked to on the streets also
felt the numbers were higher than the
official count. "One person I met kept
saying, 'Everyone knows someone that
died,'" remembers Bernard. This intrigued
the social scientist. "If everyone knew
someone who died, and there were 18
million people in Mexico City..." he says,
"I had this macabre thought: we can test
that." He conducted a street intercept
survey two months after the quake and
found that 23% of those surveyed knew
someone who had been killed in the
disaster. Bernard used this figure in an
equation to estimate the total number of
people who had died. His figure was close
to the high-end numbers the newspapers
had published, but, he explains, "we had
no way of knowing if our estimate was
correct." The survey paved the way for
Bernard's current research.
In the case of the earthquake, the victims
themselves were unaskable, so polling
their families, friends and neighbors was
the only way to estimate their numbers.
Bernard realized, however, that these
techniques might also work well to
estimate certain groups of living victims,
especially those who have experienced
events or suffer from problems that they'd
be unlikely to talk about openly, such as
rape, HIV, or homelessness, the three topics
his work now focuses on. Official counts
of people in these categories, culled from

Russ Bernard (Anthropology)

hospital and police reports, are usually
thought to be low, since the victims
often too embarrassed or frightened to
admit their condition. Bernard hopes to
overcome this hurdle by surveying people

about others instead of themselves. Most
people are willing to provide information
about members of their social circle, as
long such information is completely
anonymous.
The problem in using the grapevine
to estimate "uncountable" populations,
however, is that everyone polled has a
different size and type of social network.
Some people know more people than
others, and socio-economics also come
into play. In the case of the earthquake,
for example, wealthier respondents
would probably have known fewer
people who lived in the kind of housing
vulnerable to destruction by natural
disasters, while poorer respondents may
have known many.
Peter Kilworth, a physicist at the
University of Southampton, in England,
and Bernard's research partner for 25 years,
developed a technique for approximating
-See Uncountable, page 12

Professors from Religion and Sociology write about the Promise Keepers--pp 4-5

Around the College

Dr. Rick Knight (left) and his nephew Mark Masters (right)
present Carol Holly (philosophy, center) with an alligator foot
after their recent visit to her American Indian Philosophy
class. Knight is the executive director of the Native American
Cultural Center in Bradford County, and works to share,
preserve and archive national Native American culture.

DEPARTMENTS

ANTHROPOLOGY
This past summer, Paul Magnarella attended trials being held
at the United Christian Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanza-
nia. Magnarella has been designated a legal researcher for the
Tribunal and has organized an international research unit to aid
the Tribunal in its work.

CRIMINOLOGY AND LAW
Charles Thomas has been appointed Technical Advisor to
the Criminal Justice Committee of the American Legislative
Exchange Council, comprised primarily of elected state legis-
lators who are seeking research and information about private
corrections.

CHEMISTRY
Will Harrison presented an invited lecture on Pulsed Glow
Discharge Atomic Spectrometry at the 7th Beijing International
Conference and Exhibition on Instrumental Analysis held in
Shanghai, China (October).
Kenan Professor Alan Katritzky has been appointed to the
advisory editorial board of the Journal of Organic Chemistry.

ENGLISH
Debora Greger's Desert Fathers, Uranium Daughters (Pen-
guin, 1996) is one of six finalists for the Lenore Marshall Prize, a
$10,000 award for the best book of poetry published last year.

GEOGRAPHY
Cesar N. Caviedes presided over the sixth international meeting
of the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG),
held in Arequipa, Peru from July 20 to July 23. Professor
Caviedes presented a paper entitled, Cincuenta anos de uso y
mal-uso del concept El Nifio. During his stay, Caviedes was
interviewed twice for the national edition of the Lima newspaper
El Comercio and was featured on national television. Back in
the US, he has appeared on channels 2 and 20 commenting on
the effects of the developing El Nifio phenomenon.

GERMANIC AND SLAVIC LANG. AND LIT.
Nora M. Alter recently presented two papers: "Alternative
Mediatization of Violence: Germany in Autumn and 18 Okto-
ber, 1977" at the German Studies Association in Washington
DC and "Lebenslaufe: The Children of Goldzow
Project," at the Cinema of Eastern Germany conference in

Northhampton, Massachusetts.
Keith Bullivant recently took part in a panel discussion with
critic Martin Luedke and author Juergen Becker on Literary
Groups in Germany at the Goethe Institute in London. Addition-
ally, at a press conference in Cologne, Bullivant and Manfred
Durzak (University of Paderbom) presented their 6-volume
edition of The Collected Works of Dieter Wellershoff, which was
also featured at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair.

MATHEMATICS
Joe Glover gave a series of four lectures on "Symmetries of
Markov Processes" at the Functional Analysis V Conference,
held at the InterUniversity Center in Dubrovnik, Croatia, Sep-
tember 15 25.

PHYSICS
For their pioneering work in thermometry at low temperatures,
Dwight Adams and the UF physics department received much
attention in the August Physics Today, one of the most widely
circulated physics publications in the world.
Neil Sullivan has been invited to serve as a member of the Na-
tional Research Council's Physical Sciences Panel (Washington
DC), which reviews the organization's associateship programs.

STATISTICS
Andre Khuri presented an invited paper at the 51st Session
of the International Statistical Institute in Istanbul, Turkey, on
August 19, 1997.
Richard Scheaffer presented an invited paper at the 51st Session
of the International Statistical Institute held in Istanbul, Turkey
in August. His paper focused on the use of real and simulated
sampling activities in the teaching of that subject. He also served
as an invited discussant on the role of assessment in statistics
education.

ZOOLOGY
Buzz Holling will receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree
from the University of Guelph, Canada, in February of the new
year. The University elected to award Holling because of his
"outstanding accomplishments in the fields of population biology
and natural resource management." As part of the ceremony, he
will give an address to the new graduates of Guelph's College
of Biological Science.

Around the College
Geography Gets New Technology

(Left) Dean Harrison does the honors during the opening reception of Geography's new Remote Sensing and Geographic
Information Analysis Lab, while Cesar Caviedes and Mike Binford look on. Room 3018 in Turlington Hall now houses a local
area client-server system with 14 user terminals, a large digitizing tablet, a computer LCD display and several printers. "This
lab is the first of its kind in the College and really puts Geography at the forefront technologically," Caviedes explained at the
lab's September 25 opening. (Right) Students work with satellite images as part of Mike Binford's remote sensing class.

Construction at Rolfs Hall Nearly Complete

When Rolfs Hall was built in 1927, it was only half finished. In addi-
tion to more space, the initial design gave the building a tower and
main entrance on its west side. Although no new classroom space
could be added, this February the scaffolding and temporary fencing
presently blocking the passage between Rolfs and Turlington (right)
should be gone, and Rolfs will have a new look (lower right) includ-
ing an entrance and tower (elevator shaft) very similar to its original
design.

University Center for Excellence in Teaching
Conversations About Teaching

Reservations are necessary. Please call Nadine (846-1574)
or e-mail her at nadine@ucet.ufl.edu.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Promise Keepers Should Promise Equality for Women

by Connie Shehan
(UCET Director
and professor
of sociology)

American
feminists have been
outspoken in their
criticism of the PK
and their agenda.
The National
Organization for
Women (NOW)
recently passed a
resolution declaring
the PK a great danger to women's
rights because they believe the PK
emphasis on male leadership and
female subordination is a throwback
to the days of women's servitude and
oppression.
There is considerable evidence to
support the Promise Keeper's (PK)
premise that men need to rethink
their commitments to their female
partners and their children. Statistics
on divorce, out-of-wedlock births,
deadbeat dads, male uninvolvement
in family life, and domestic violence
suggest that some men are failing to
act in a responsible way in regard to
their families.
Is a revival of the "traditional"
nuclear family of post-WWII America
(with its breadwinner husband and
homemaker wife) the solution to the
social problems plaguing our nation?
Feminists think not.
First, the financial survival of the
average American household and of
the US economy as a whole depends
on the labor force participation of
wives and mothers. The married
woman who is employed full-time,
year round contributes over 40%
of her household's total income, on
average. Furthermore, over 45%
of the US labor force is female and
a large proportion of the new jobs
that will be added to the economy
over the next decade will be filled
by women. Thus, a full-scale return
to the one-earner household is not
economically feasible.
Second, public opinion will

not support male
dominance in family
decision making in
households in which
adult women are major
economic contributors.
Women who've
responded to various
magazine polls in recent
years have indicated
that their preferred type
of relationship is one
where spouses are equal
S partners. Other ideals
_j of the past-such as
the husband as senior
partner and wife as junior partner-
have been resoundingly rejected
among many younger, well-educated
segments of the female population.
Patricia Ireland, president of
NOW, says: "Two adults standing as
equals and peers taking responsibility
for their family is a much different
image than a man being the head
and master, and women being back
in an old role that historically was
very detrimental." NOW sponsored
a counter-rally in Washington at the
same time as the PK's "Stand in the
Gap" rally. Ireland has said
of the
absence "public opinion wi
of dominance in family
women households in whit
at PK
ants: major economic
events:
"The PK
come to their rally and check their
wives and daughters at the door like
coats. We're here with a promise
we want the PK to keep: 'I promise
to support equality for women.'"
The PK themselves justify their
single-sex gatherings by saying that
women impede men's ability to "soul
search."
Criticism from feminist groups
has actually succeeded in forcing
the PK to retract some of its original
extremist statements about male
dominance. NOW has attempted
to debunk prevalent myths about
the PK and to counteract some of
the positive statements about the

lli
Sd
:h
C c{

benefits of the PK for women-made
primarily by wives of PK members-
with quotations from PK leaders. For
instance, NOW acknowledges that
feminists have long urged men to take
more responsibility in the home. But
to NOW, taking responsibility does
not mean taking control. PK openly
calls for wives to submit to their
husbands. Tony Evans, a senior pastor
of a PK fellowship in Dallas and
prominent PK spokesman, encourages
PK members to "Sit down with your
wife and say...'Honey, I've made a
terrible mistake. I've given you my
role. I gave up leading this family,
and I forced you to take my place.
Now, I must reclaim that role'...I'm not
suggesting you ask for your role back,
I'm urging you to take it back...there
can be no compromise here."
In a Time magazine interview, PK
founder Bill McCartney said: "The
man has responsibility before God.
You know what a woman is told[in
the bible]? Respect your husband.
OK? The way she would do that is she
would come alongside him and let him
take the lead, and he in turn would
lay down his life. He would serve her,
affectionately
and tenderly
tot support male serve her."
decision making in Conservative
adult women are women from
contributors. m a i n i n e
Protestant,
Orthodox,
and Roman Catholic churches have
denounced NOW for its attack on
the PK. Mary Ellen Bork, wife of the
unsuccessful Supreme Court nominee
Robert Bork, and a lecturer on Catholic
life says NOW has missed the point of
the PK and is out of touch with what
American women want. "Power is not
(our) goal in life." Wives of PK members
have started a number of Christian
women's ministries. Cheri Bright, the
founder of one such group, Suitable
Helpers, says she prayed that "women
wouldn't be a discouragement, that
women wouldn't become a hindrance
to the work God wanted to do in their
lives, but that women would step back
-See Own Words, page 12

As busses filled
up with evangelical
Protestant men
bound for the
Promise Keepers
Rally in Washington,
DC, print media and the airwaves
filled with controversy regarding
the implications of this event and
its motivating ideology for gender
relations in American society, and with
charges that the rally represented a
major political move on the part of the
Christian Right once again disguised
under the cloak of spirituality.
Nevertheless, from our vantage
points, the expressions of alarm seem
overworked and excessive, finding
grave danger where little really exists.
Promise Keepers is notable for an
absence of a political agenda either in
its platform or amongst its leadership.
With the exception of James Robinson,
none of the Promise Keepers' leaders
have had careers as political activists,
and the movement has made an effort
to avoid holding forth on popular
Evangelical political issues such as
abortion and homosexuality. Founder
Bill McCartney has argued publicly
that Promise Keepers will never have
a political plan or a call for action.
This stance places him somewhat
in opposition to such groups as the
Christian Coalition. Nevertheless,
critics correctly hear reverberations of
political language in Promise Keepers'
statements- for example the claim that
America has become a corrupted state
because Christian men have forsaken
their God-ordained roles within the
family, church and society. These
images of national repentance and
redemption are, we believe, merely
part of standard Evangelical rhetoric.
These are people who are covenantal
in their social thinking- covenant is

a metaphor as old as the movement
itself. Evangelicals have always and
will always continue to use language
of national redemption because this
is the way this form of Christianity
thinks about the larger society. This
is not a code, nor a portent of some
conspiracy to deprive non-Christians
of their equal legal and social status in
the United States.
The Promise Keepers' stance on
relations between men and women,
particularly in the home, similarly
draws mixed evaluations. Given the
fact that Evangelical women, like
most American women, are finding
it economically necessary to work
(this despite an ideology
which idealizes full-time T
mothering), and given move
the fact that Evangelical advice
women who do work, like
most American women, still men ta
find themselves responsible their
for most of the work of of ft
running the household, leader
caring for children and
sustaining their churches may
in a great variety of roles, many
Promise Keepers' call for more
more male involvement in to be 1
home and family is likely rather
to strike most Evangelicalec
women as long overdue. r
The movement's advice, me
that men take back their
roles of family leadership,
may rankle many and is more likely
to be ignored rather than rejected
by most. Religious organizations
which assign authority on the basis
of gender effectively cut their talent

pool in half, just like other institutions
in a competitive society. One thing
we know about religious people and
families is that each negotiates its own
appropriation of the official ideology.
Overburdened Evangelical women
may in fact welcome the opportunity
to share authority in exchange for
some substantial male involvement.
More important, in the long run,
may be the Promise Keepers' position
of racial reconciliation. (Promise
number 6:..."reaching beyond any
racial and denominational barriers
to demonstrate the power of Biblical
unity.") Here the Promise Keepers
reflect a larger movement among
American Evangelicals calling
upon white Christians to repent for
the mistreatment of their African-
American brethren and actively to
seek reconciliation. With American
Protestantism in general divided into
single-race denominations, even the
call for trans-denominational contact
must be seen as a reaching across
America's racial divides.
The future of the movement is
likely to be limited. Most attendees
at the Washington rally were people
already active in their churches-

he
ment's
e, that
ke back
roles
imily
rship,
rankle
and is
likely
ignored
r than
ted by
ost.

another pilgrimage of
the choir. Yet because
Evangelical women
constitute a majority their
churches' membership
and volunteers, there
is an enormous pool of
under-active men which
may be stirred into life.
McCartney's decision to
make Promise Keepers'
rallies free for the next
two years (standard fee
is $60.00) may entice the
uninvolved into some
degree of commitment.
Our guess is that by the
time the movement goes
global in the year 2000,
Promise Keepers is likely
to attain its goal of being

neither more nor less than a standard
feature of American revivalism.%

New Faculty

Sid Dobrin, an assistant professor of English, was most recently
employed by the University of Kansas as an assistant professor.
He studied rhetoric and composition at the University of South
Florida, where he received his PhD in 1995. Sid is the author
of Constructing Knowledges: The Politics of Theory-Building and
Pedagogy in Composition (SUNY Press, 1997) and the co-editor
ofJAC: A Journal of Composition Theory. His research interests
include composition theory and environmental rhetoric. He enjoys
saltwater fishing, camping, boating and diving in his free time.

S" Pamela K. Gilbert, an assistant professor of English, joins UF
from the University of Wisconsin at Parkside, where she was an
assistant professor. She received her PhD in English from the
University of Southern California, and her work centers around
Victorian literature, theory, women's literature and the novel.
Pamela's first book, Disease, Desire and the Body in Victorian Women's
Popular Fiction, was published in October by Cambridge University
Press. She is currently working on a second book, which will
focus on the social body in Britain from 1832 to 1867; she is also
co-editing a volume of essays on the work of M.E. Braddon,
a Victorian writer. She will be teaching courses in Victorian
literature, women's literature and feminist theory.

Tanya Storch, an assistant professor of Chinese religion,
received her PhD in East Asian Buddhism from the University
of Pennsylvania, where she has been a lecturer in Asian and
Middle Eastern Studies since her graduation in 1995. Her
research focuses on Chinese religions, particularly Buddhism.
She is working on a book which seeks to legitimize and recognize
Buddhist scholarship. She hopes to present the breadth and
depth of Buddhist scholarship, which includes the study of the
nature of human language, the principles of human history and
the basic science of life. Tanya teaches courses in Buddhism,
Taoism, Confucianism, and syncratic folk religions of East Asia.
She enjoys practicing yoga, tai chi, and Buddhist meditation.

Darin Weinberg, an assistant professor of sociology, will be
receiving his PhD in sociology any day from UCLA. Before
attending UCLA, he studied at the London School of Economics,
where he received a MSc in social philosophy in 1985. He is
interested in sociological theory, sociology of science, social
problems, deviance and medical sociology. His recent research
has largely centered around completing his dissertation, which
is entitled: "Of Others Inside: Insanities, Addictions, and
Recoveries Among Homeless Americans." Darin teaches courses
in sociological theory and the history and development of
sociological thought. His outside interests include spending time
with his wife and 9-month-old son, listening to all kinds of music,
and getting to know Gainesville.

The South and Florida Have Rich Labor History
An interview with History Professor Robert Zieger

Cn: Southern Labor in
Transition 1940-1995, which you
edited, was just published by The
University of Tennessee Press.
Do the essays in the book discuss
a central change or trend in labor
activism in the South?

RZ: Not exactly. The
collection serves more to
challenge the common notion
of a non-union South, and to Robert Zieger, pr
illustrate the depth and richness editor of Southern
of traditions of labor activism in
the South.
Patrick Maney's essay, for example, focuses
on Hail Boggs, the Louisiana Congressman who
benefited from a progressive labor/ civil rights
coalition in the fifties and sixties. As House
Majority Leader, he was one of the most powerful
Southern politicians at the time and his career
forces us to revise our view of Deep South politics
of this period as being inherently anti-labor and
anti-civil rights.
Boggs in fact relied on the same liberal and
labor groups that we normally associate only
with northern Democrats of this era. Of course,
his reliance in part on the support of blacks
in New Orleans was unpopular
among many whites, but his
association with a then-strong
Louisiana labor movement
helped to build bridges to the
white working class. Until now,
historians have largely overlooked
organized labor's role in the racial
politics of the postwar South.
Additionally, we hoped
to address the theme of
exceptionalism. Historians and
social scientists often treat the
South as an exotic exception to
some imagined American norm.
How "exceptional" has the South
been in regard to labor issues? Is
the "Southern exception" now the American
norm?

Cn: Well, is the South an exception to the
American norm?
RZ: No. Although the processes of dealing
with certain issues have been very different,
historians are finding similar patterns present in
the development of race and labor issues in both

ofes
L

the North and South. There were
vigorous bi-racial unions in both
North and South, and there have
been numerous examples of sharp
racial tensions within the working
class in both sections.

Cn: Four of the essays in
your book deal with Florida, and you
recently said in an interview that
Florida is "on the cutting edge" in
sor of history and regard to labor trends and dealing with
ibor in Transition. workplace problems. Can you elaborate
on this?
RZ: Well, in addition to important labor
organizing done in manufacturing fields (a bi-racial
radical labor coalition in post WWII Miami's air
transport industry, unions for steel, shipyard and
papermill workers) Florida pioneered movements
in non-manufacturing fields. The nation's first
statewide teacher strike happened here in 1968.
Firefighters in Florida were among the earliest to
form effective unions, which in turn led in 1967 to
innovative state legislation in this field.
Currently, because the national labor force has
shifted toward a service economy and because
manufacturing workers no longer constitute
a majority of the labor force, the
patterns of employment nationwide
increasingly approximate those that
have traditionally prevailed in Florida,
making the sunshine state a crucial one
to watch.
I think the UPS strike emphasized to
the public that service jobs are central to
the economy and that service workers,
such as those employed in hotels,
restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals,
retail establishments, entertainment
complexes, and delivery service work
hard and should be fairly compensated.
Moreover, as was shown in the UPS
strike, these workers can be as militant
and effective in asserting their interests
as were the coal miners, auto workers,
and construction workers of the more traditional
labor movement. And of course, employers can't
relocate hotels, hospitals, and theme parks down to
Mexico.%
Editor's note: Zieger dedicated Southern Labor in Transition
to his late colleague, George Pozzetta, and his family. Professor
Pozzetta had been a member of the Department of History for
over 20 years before his sudden death in 1994 and, says Zieger,
"His loss is stillfelt in the department."

Book Beat

Lewis Tappan and the Evangelical War
Against Slavery
(Louisiana State Press)
by Bertram Wyatt-Brown (History)
(review taken from book jacket)
Bertram Wyatt-Brown not only gives us an excellent
biography of an important figure but also the best
insight we have on the combination of capitalism,
evangelicalism, and abolitionism.

(Excerpt) This book is an attempt
to see abolitionism as a generally
sensible though by no means
unblemished attack on a national
problem. Its leaders ought to be
remembered not solely for their
various imperfections but for
their acuteness of moral percep-
tion as well. The Tappans and
their friends were neither har-
pies of destruction nor merciful
deliverers. They were much too
puny, like all of us,for that. But
they gave the country a higher
conception of what American na-
tionality was supposed to stand
for than most of the statesmen
of their day.

(Excerpt) The subject
of most of the essays ',' ,,uti I(ilaor
in this book is an mapping islamic studies
examination and a mco g..,.uLa,. d
critical appreciation
of this modern phase.
They are intended as
a contribution to the
discussion of how the
discipline of Islamic
Studies, a branch
of Oriental Studies,
as it has come to
be understood and
practiced, evolved in
its various historical n..uLi.n E_ .,-
contexts. They also
seek to reflect upon the
ironic effects, whereby "Orientalism" and "Islamic Studies,"
which emerged as European disciplines to study the "other"
have themselves become texts and objects of study, as the
"other".

The Modern Political Campaign: Mudslinging,
Bombast, and the Vitality of American Politics
(M. E. Sharpe)
by Richard K. Scher
(Political Science).
(review taken from book
jacket)
This short book takes
a fresh look at the
American style of
campaign politics,
audintisngo, seambae, i past and present,
ad then Vitality of warts and all, to argue
SAmer Peliti that campaigns reflect
both our popular
culture and the place
of politics in our
national life. In the
end, the purpose of
campaigns is to draw
voters' attention to
a candidate or issue,
even though politics
is not of immediate interest to many or most citizens.
That is what campaigns do and always have done in
America-and there is no reason to think that a more
cerebral approach to politics would be more effective.

(Excerpt) ...we are suspicious of those who want to engage
in an enterprise-government, in this case-about which
we have serious doubts. If we did not feel this .,,.ip why
do we then feel so uncharitable about our candidates?
Why else would we call them clowns, and worse? If we
had more trust and confidence in the public enterprise, we
probably would not belittle those who offer themselves to
run it. Indeed, there would be less reason to find fault with
those actually announcing for office.

Statistical Methods for Engineers (Duxbury Press)
G. Geoffrey Vining (Statistics)
(review taken from book jacket)
Perhaps the most modern engineering statistics book on
the market, Statistical
Methods for Engineers
departs significantly from
the traditional model of
engineering statistics.
Whereas many books
emphasize statistics
with a minimal focus
on engineering, Vining
skillfully weaves statistics
into engineering and
focuses on the collection
of real engineering
data. The result: a truly
modern approach.

Book Beat

Class Issues: Pedagogy, Cultural Studies,
and the Public Sphere (New York University Press)
Edited by Amitava Kumar (English)
(review taken from book jacket)
Class Issues asserts a complex, interrelated agenda for
radical teachers and students. Bringing together work
on the public sphere, radical cultural studies pedagogy,
and public intellectuals, leading scholars of literary
and cultural studies, queer studies, ethnic studies, and
working-class literature examine the challenges that
confront progressive pedagogy, as well as the histories
that lie behind the achievements of cultural studies.
Class Issues offers a plan for the construction of an
alternative public sphere in the rapidly changing space
of the academic classroom.
(Excerpt) As of 1993,
i,... : i, ten thousand researched
I'l^ aI 1'. t'L ',l. II ; l :d^iC',
rm ,hr hl-hir spkrw articles, collections, and
books can be found on
Madonna (and these
just in English). Such
numbers beckon various
conclusions about the
C as5 current status of Cultural
s ti n s Studies, its interest in
popular, mass, and/or
commercial culture, its
ability to find political
nuance in unlikely places,
its hipness, and perhaps
its inherent banality.
eled Amialva Kutr \it,.:-,. conclusions
one wants to draw on the
spate of work inspired by
the material girl, let it be said to begin with that Cultural
Studies has arrived.
Werkheft Literatur (Goethe-Institut)
Edited by Will Hasty (Germanic Studies) and
Christa Merkes-Frei (Goethe-Institut, Atlanta)

(summary by Will Hasty) This German language volume
introduces the satires and poetry of two significant authors
of Turkish descent, Sinasi Dikmen and Zehra Cirak,
who are currently living and writing in Germany. The
"1\ \.i / li.t grew out of a visit by these two authors to the
Gainesville campus during the
German Summer School of the werWkhflt ilrour
Southeast in 1995. It contains
an introduction to the social
situation and the literature of
ethnic minorities in Germany
by Dr.Hasty, as well as lesson Sn*Dirnn Zeiira".
plans for the use of selected ., .
works by these authors in
classes on German language -
and culture that were devised
by the students of the Summer
School (themselves teachers)
under the supervision of Dr.Merkes-Frei.

The Great Lobster War
(University of
Massachusetts Press)
by Ron Formisano
(History) (review taken from
book jacket)
In the Lobster War, Ron
Formisano offers a lucid
description of the romance
and reality of the Maine
lobster industry, the strike,
the trial and the aftermath
of the controversy. He
views the 'lobster war'
as a classic American
conflict between economic
interest and independence
and, ultimately, between
cooperation and
individualism.

THE
GREAT

LOBSTER

WAR

(Excerpt)The independence of lobster fishermen is real.
They can indeed decide for themsleves whether to work
on a given day; they spend seemingly infinite stretches
of time on the water, working alone, or with one helper
(a sternman--often now, two sternmen), locked into a
rhythm of work that demands full attention. They plan
their days around wind, tide, and weather, elements
of nature that can be beneficent and bountiful but also
n,,fa.r -i.ii; and punishing.

(Excerpt) The Tense-Aspect-
Modal verb system of language
has been given a great deal
of attention in the literature.
Traditional analyses of TAM
usually regard the tense as
having temporal nature,
while aspect and modality
are described as dealing with
attitude, perspective and
the like. This study aims to
provide a general (semantic)
theory for temporality, but it
also systematically examines
the verb system in Biblical-
Hebrew which lacks tenses, as
will be demonstrated, and thus
enables us to see the nature
of aspect and modality more
clearly.

Academics in Transition
In part two of our series on CLAS academics in transition our three participants discuss managing their workloads and
balancing teaching and research during the midterm crunch. Next month's topic: adjusting to Gainesville.
Dana Martin, a first-year TA in French, is working on her PhD in Francophone-African and Caribbean
literatures.

Cn: It's the middle of your first semester at UF. How are things going?
DM: It's getting kind of rough now because there's a lot to get done besides taking care of the classes I
teach. I'm at a turning point in my own courses. I have a lot of reading to finish before I can write the
papers that are due. But the pressure is making me set priorities, which is good.
Cn: What kind of priorities?
DM: Well, for example, I've set a goal for completing all my reading by the end of October. Additionally,
I've learned my optimum study patterns. I am able to focus on my reading and writing much more clearly in the morning.
But, both the classes I teach are in the morning so I'm forced to do a lot of my own work at night, which is hard. I'm using
as many of the morning hours as I can on my own reading, and maybe a request (next semester) to teach in the afternoon
could work, but I do prefer teaching the morning classes. So, I'll just have to wait and see.
Cn: What's the hardest or most time-consuming part of your teaching?
DM: Definitely the grading. I have nearly 60 students, and although I love reading their compositions, it takes a lot of time
to grade them. I always want to correct every little thing, especially because they are writing in a foreign language, so it's
very important that they recognize and understand their errors. I'm trying to limit my marks on their drafts and save the
more thorough corrections for their final copies.

Carla Edwards is a TA and PhD ..'- '
student in sociology.

Cn: How is your class going?
CE: Good, I guess. Busy. Recently, I
got kind of worried because I noticed
a significant change in the behavior
of my students. They seemed quiet
and tired and unprepared, and I
wondered if it was me. Then I realized
that they were all in the middle of mid-term exams in
their other classes, so they were exhausted and behind
in everything.
Cn: Did you talk to them about it?
CE: Yes, actually, a couple of weeks ago I asked all the
students who felt they were behind to raise their hands.
A lot of them did. I advised them to map out how they
spent their time during the next week: how many hours
they spent cruising the net, talking to their boyfriends on
the phone versus how many hours they spent studying
and preparing for classes. Some of the ones who took the
time to do this were very surprised at the results.
Cn: How is your own coursework coming along?
CE: That's hard to say. The grades in two of my classes
are based almost entirely on the final papers, which are
due in December, so that's a bit nerve-wracking. There's
way too much to read, of course, but I'm making sure I
read the most important texts thoroughly and outline
the others.
Cn: Have you chosen a dissertation topic?
CE: I came into the program knowing exactly what I
wanted to write about, but the more course material I read,
the less interested I become in pursuing that specific topic.
I still want to focus on social and economic inequality and
how it affects the health and development of children, but
I've gotten many new ideas from course readings and
discussions which are re-shaping the focus of my work. It
seems like the more I learn, the more I want to know. I'm
having a difficult time staying focused on one topic.l

Pam Ohman is an assistant professor
of statistics.

Cn: You're two months into your first term
as assistant professor-how are things going
in the classroom?
PO: I'mtired! (laugh) Actually, in some
senses my classes are going a lot better. ,
I've reached a point in the semester
where the students know me and feel
comfortable asking questions. They understand what I
expect and give me good feedback about assignments.
I've-just about-learned all their names, too, so everything
is a bit more personal. For the same reasons, though,
teaching is overwhelming right now. I have 107 students
between the two classes I teach, and I try to have individual
contact with all of them, which can consume a lot of time
and energy.
Cn: Do your students come to office hours regularly?
PO: Yes, many come during office hours, and many more
come just whenever. I'm trying to be strict about reserving
a few days a week where I absolutely don't see students so
that I can get some other work done.
Cn: Has your course load and its accompanying demands affected
your research?
PO: I've been sort of plodding along in this area. I'm
concentrating on finishing my dissertation paper, and will
probably have it completed in another month, but several
other projects need some attention. I'm hoping that after
mid-term my class demands will settle back down, and I
will be able to give more focus to shaping these projects.
Cn: What's your schedulefor the spring term?
PO: Since I elected to teach two classes this fall, I'll only
be responsible for one this spring, which will be nice. It's a
special topics course on time series, and I'll have to spend
some time at the end of this term preparing for it since I'll
be starting from scratch. I think planning the course will be
good for me though, because I'll be exposed to some new
material in that subject that I might be able to integrate into
my research.S

Musings continued from page 1

year in an important way.
Fortunately, there appears
to be a procedural path out of
this dilemma for future years by
changing the rules and regulations
through which T&P cases move
forward for consideration.
The provost has established a
university committee and each
college is now reconsidering
its own procedures that would
bring it into compliance with the
Sunshine Laws. At the heart of
these changes is a modification
that would direct all cases,
whether positively or negatively
assessed at the department level,
to move forward to the college
and university for further review.
On that basis, departmental
procedures could then revert to the
former desired mode of collective
faculty discussion, which is viewed
by most of us as an important
feature to retain.
Short of some additional legal
reversal, I believe that we can
arrive at a CLAS T&P procedure
that will recapture the critical
elements that ensure adequate
faculty consider-ation and fair
treatment of each case. We have
met with the department chairs,
and they are now in the process of
seeking advice from their faculty.
We will then, by no later than
December 1, 1997, present to
the provost our revised T&P
procedures for certification and
approval.
We should be vigilant in
defending tenure and promotion
against all unreasonable attacks.
We are, of course, bound by
the laws of the state of Florida,
whether we always like it or not.
It is, however, in the interpretation
of that law that we should be
as creative and resourceful as
possible in preserving precious,
vital elements of our academic
culture. Universities have success-
fully survived for hundreds of
years. We should test carefully any
challenge to that success.

Will Harrison,
Dean

[harrison@chem.ufl.edu]

Uncountable continued from page 1

these difficult-to-quantify pieces of the
puzzle. His "maximum likelihood
estimation technique" uses known
event populations to help establish
rules that can help predict unknown
populations, like the number of people
killed in Mexico City.
Bernard, Kilworth, Eugene Johnson
(Math, UC-SB), and two of Bernard's
former UF students, Christopher
McCarty, Director of the Survey of
Business and Economic Research, and
Gene Ann Shelley, a researcher of family
and interpersonal violence at the CDC
in Atlanta, use Kilworth's technique
in their present work estimating the
number of women who have been
raped, people with HIV and homeless
people in America. They ask each
person surveyed questions not only
about these three target groups, but
also about 29 other groups whose
population sizes are already known,
such as Diner's Club card carriers, men
named David and diabetics. From the
respondent's answers on the 29 known
quantities, they estimate the average
size of the respondents' social networks
(how many people they know). Once
this network size is established, they
can estimate the size of the populations
whose sizes are unknown. As their
method improves-as their estimates
of things they know the answer to

improves-they have greater and
greater confidence that the estimates
of unknown-size populations are
correct.
Their results are promising. "Our
homelessness estimate is much higher
than official estimates but lower than
those from advocacy groups," says
Bernard. "Our estimate for the number
of rape victims...is nearly identical to
the one produced by the latest National
Crime Victimization Survey, and the
estimate for HIV...is in astonishing
agreement with official estimates
obtained by much longer and more
expensive techniques."
Bernard's team recently received
an NSF grant to continue refining
the rules of social networks and, in
particular, to examine the difference
in the propagation of certain types of
information (what types of news travel
at faster or slower rates and why).
There are many potential applications
of their research, but Bernard stresses
one in particular. "By more accurately
exposing the extent of certain social
problems, we can give everyone
[advocacy groups, politicians, the
general public] the information they
need to make sound decisions. We
hope that this will contribute to the
alleviation of human suffering."

In Their Own Words (continued from page 4)

and take their hands off the situation."
(quoted in Time, Oct. 6)
The PK believe in innate spiritual
and emotional differences between
women and men. And they attribute
most, if not all, of our national crises to
a blurring of gender lines. McCartney
says: "You do know, don't you, that
we're raising our children at a time
when it's an effeminate society. It's
not the proper climate. We need young
boys that are launched to be men and
that has to be imitated for them by a
godly man."
The PK also offer an interesting
perspective on feminists, as might
be expected. Tony Evans is quoted
as saying, "I believe that feminists of
the more aggressive persuasion are
frustrated women unable to find the
proper male leadership. If a woman
were receiving the right kind of love

and attention and leadership she
would not want to be liberated from
that."

For more information about NOW's
response to the PK, visit their web site
at http:/ /www.now.org.a

.UNIVERSITY OF

SFLORIDA
CLAS notes is published monthly by the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to
inform faculty and staff of current research
and events.
Dean: Will Harrison
Editor: Jane Gibson
Graphics: Gracy Castine